AMC/RMC Round 2 2017

The 2nd Round of the AMC 2017 kicks off at Elite Speedway Karting Circuit on the 22nd and 23rd April 2017. Just a few days before, there was a thunderstorm that has caused chaos in many parts of Klang Valley and much to the relief of everyone at the track, weather was good for most part of the race. Prassetyo Hardja is on course to become the new champion in DD2, winning 2 rounds straight. Hebiete Nasen Yue had an excellent weekend, bagging first in the qualifying, heats and straight to the final. Arsh Johany made an amazing return to the Rotax series after a year of absence in the sport by winning the senior category. Muhammad Ibrahim also had an amazing weekend, bagging first in all the races.

In the Micromax, Hebiete Nasen Yue bagged his first podium win after losing out to Krit Boonyang in the first round of the AMC. There was no stopping to Hebiete as he won all the races in the 2nd round of the AMC. Closest challenge was by Adam Mikail who lost his position to Sergio Noor at the start of the final but managed to regain back and proceed to chase after Hebiete. It does look like at some point, Adam might be able to catch up to Hebiete but in the end he was only able to maintain his pace away from the rest of the pack. Sergio Noor following behind Adam, watching to see if there is any opportunity to overtake but in the end, couldn’t find the chance and finished 3rd. China driver, Cui Yuan Pu, bagged 4th place, his best performance to date. Krit Boonyang started 2nd in the final and was the closest rival to Hebiete but a sparkplug problem at the start landed him right almost at the back of the pack. Slowly Krit climbed back but was only able to hold his position at 5th place.

Muhammad Ibrahim took home his first podium win in the Junior category with flying colours, having bagged all the races for the weekend. There was no stopping Ibrahim that weekend as he sped off and built a considerable gap from the rest. As he looked cruise to win the race, the real fight took place between the 2nd to 5th drivers. Ananthorn Tangnainatchai, winner of the AMC Round 1 Junior category, didn’t have the pace to catch up to Ibrahim, dropped position after a tussle with Philippines driver, Tai Zulberti. And things didn’t get any better with Indonesian driver, Akmal Ashibli, joining in the tussle between the 3 drivers. Romain Leroux watching the whole thing from behind at 5th place, saw an opening and overtook all 3 drivers, putting him in 2nd place. Romain can’t mount the challenge he did before in Round 1 as his engine was acting up and lost position at the start of the final but quick thinking from him saw him leapfrog to 2nd place. Akmal had a brief spot in 2nd place but due to the tussle, he was dropped all the way to 7th. But he managed to climb back and finished 5th. Tai Zulberti and Ananthorn continued their tussle and both dropping from 3rd and 4th and back until at the last lap, Zulberti managed to have the upperhand and stay on to finished 3rd place and Ananthorn finished 4th.

Arsh Johany made his comeback to the Rotax with a bang by winning all the races in the senior category despite a year plus break from karting. At the start, Arsh has managed to built a gap away from the pack but Barrichello Noor was closing in lap after lap and managed to wrestle the 1st spot from Arsh a few times but it just couldn’t stick. In the last few lap, Barrichello was following closely, ready to pounce at the slightest opening but Arsh didn’t give him any. Akhmad Gunadi finished 3rd after losing the 2nd position to a faster Barrichello Noor. Ting Hau Shiu finished 4th after overtaking Rifqi Rakamulya the last 3 laps before the last lap. James Veerapen started at 4th place, didn’t have much luck as midway through the race, his chain broke and was forced out of the race. Izzat Hanif, winner of the AMC round 1, just can’t find any pace at all and was stuck at the midend of the pack. However he managed to salvaged his championship by finishing 6th place and is now 4th place in the overall championship.

Senna Noor started well into the 2nd Round of the DD2 and even when he was penalised in one of the heat for touching Eshan Pieris, he still managed to come out 2nd in the prefinal. However in the final, it all went downhill for the champ. While chasing pole driver, Prassetyo Hardja, his throttle cable snapped. But it didn’t snap completely as he was able to continue, however, he was not getting much power and stopped. Another casualty is DD2 master Riki Tanioka. Riki already experienced some issue with his engine in the prefinal and hoped the issue would be fixed. Unfortunately after 1 lap in the final, Riki returned to the pits. Manav Sharma finished 2nd with Ehsan Pieris 3rd and Silvano Christian in 4th. Ariff Amran finished 5th for the DD2 senior category. In the Masters category, with Riki Tanioka out of the race, Alan Saw made this chance to put him ahead of his group and winning the Master category. This is the first time the DD2 master category has been won by another driver besides Riki. For the DD2 veteran category, Eric Mancini had to play bridemaids again eventhough he was in excellent form, winning all the races. In the final, he came into a corner abit wide and suddenly Vica Chong from Hong Kong came in from behind and overtook Eric. In the 1st Round in Sepang, it was the same thing except it was another different Hong Kong driver.

The next round will be on 20th and 21st May and it will be held in the same venue. With the new system format for the AMC 2017, each driver can choose their best 5 rounds out of 6. So even if they have performed badly in Round 2, they can still make it up for Round 3. However they cannot afford to make anymore mistake and try to close the gap from the point leader. Round 4 will also be in Elite Speedway karting circuit and the last 2 rounds will be held in Sepang International karting circuit.